The present invention relates to covers for protecting cargo being transported by motor vehicles.
Covers are widely employed to protect valuable cargo such as boats and other personal watercraft, snowmobiles and bicycles from the elements of weather and from wind blown debris. At highway speeds, the air flow has a tendency to blow the cover off the cargo. As a result, tie down devices such as straps and buckles have been employed to secure the cover over the cargo. Moreover, the cover has a tendency to whip and buffet as a result of the air flow about the cover particularly when a high speed air stream flows under the cover. This whipping and buffeting can cause the cover to tear and even damage the cargo underneath it. Moreover, the whipping and buffeting of the cover generates considerable noise.
More recently, McLellan U. S. Pat. No. 4,976,389 proposed a cover to protect a bicycle from exposure to environmental conditions during transport, and it employs a single aperture at its rear end to create a suction effect on air under the cover to inhibit undesired buffeting of the cover. This suction effect is created by a pressure drop occurring at the aperture which is the result of difference in air pressure between the interior and the exterior of the cover.
Although the McLellan cover may reduce the buffeting associated with conventional bike covers which fit closely about the bicycle, the type of structure has limited applicability to devices other than bicycles which have relatively narrow profiles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel cover for articles being transported which is effective to cause the cover to fit relatively closely about the article at transport speeds.
It is also an object to provide such a cover which is relatively free from whipping and buffeting at transport speeds.
Still another object is to provide such a cover which may be readily and economically fabricated for a large variety of cargoes such as personal watercraft, snowmobiles and boats.
A further object is to provide a novel method for covering objects being transported in an air stream.